# Religion in Somalia in numbers > Religion in Somalia by the numbers: Muslim share, Christians, Shafi'i and Sufi, Qur'an schools, Hajj pilgrims and historical counts, each with its source and year. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/religion-in-somalia-in-numbers/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## Before you read the numbers None of the figures below comes from a census question on religion. Each is an estimate from a named source, with its year. Where sources differ, all are shown. ## Share of people who are Muslim | Source | Year | Muslim share | Note | |---|---|---|---| | Federal Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, via US State Department | 2023 | more than 99% Sunni | Population taken as 12.7 to 15.7 million ([US State Department, IRF Report 2023](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)) | | Pew Research Center world table | estimate for 2009 (from a 2005 source) | 98.5%, about 8,995,000 people | Pew has not surveyed inside Somalia ([Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/chart/interactive-data-table-world-muslim-population-by-country/)) | | US Library of Congress country study | 1992 | "most Somalis are Sunni Muslims"; under 1% of ethnic Somalis Christian | ([Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/44.htm)) | ## Somali regions beyond Somalia Ethiopia and Kenya ask about religion in their national censuses. | Place | Census | Muslim share | Source | |---|---|---|---| | Somali Region, Ethiopia | 1994 (held in the region in 1997) | 99.74% | ([Somali Region, Wikipedia, citing the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Region)) | | Wajir County, Kenya | 2019 | 98.97% (767,312 people) | ([Wajir County, Wikipedia, citing KNBS 2019 Census Volume IV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wajir_County)) | | Mandera County, Kenya | 2019 | 99.3% | ([Mandera County, Wikipedia, citing KNBS 2019 Census Volume IV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandera_County)) | | Garissa County, Kenya | 2019 | Christians 2.2%; the rest mostly Muslim | ([Garissa County, Wikipedia, citing KNBS 2019 Census Volume IV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garissa_County)) | | Djibouti | Pew estimate | 96.9% | ([Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/chart/interactive-data-table-world-muslim-population-by-country/)) | ## Branch and school of law - **Sunni:** the large majority ([US State Department, 2023](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)). - **Shafi'i school of law:** the school "represented in Somalia" ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/45.htm)). A Hanafi minority has grown with the Tablighi Jamaat ([Islam in Somalia, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Somalia)). - **Shia:** "an unknown number" ([US State Department, 2023](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)). In Pew's 2012 survey of neighbouring Djibouti, Muslims described themselves as 77 percent Sunni, 8 percent "just a Muslim", 2 percent Shia and 13 percent did not answer ([Islam in Djibouti, Wikipedia, citing Pew 2012](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Djibouti)). - **Sufi orders:** the Library of Congress study says most Somalis were members of a Sufi order at least in name ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). ## Christians and other faiths | Source | Year | Figure | |---|---|---| | Bishop Francesco Filippini (Catholic) | 1940 | about 40,000 Somali Catholics in the south, a figure Bishop Giorgio Bertin later called too high ([Aweis A. Ali, 2020](https://www.somalibiblesociety.org/download/a-brief-history.pdf)) | | Diocese of Mogadishu | about 1950 | about 8,500 Catholics ([Christianity in Somalia, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Somalia)) | | Diocese of Mogadishu | 2004 | about 100 Catholics ([same source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Somalia)) | | US State Department | 2023 | about 1,000 Christians; unknown numbers of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and people with no religion ([IRF Report 2023](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)) | | Somali Bible Society census (counted by phone and in person; children counted through a Christian parent) | 2022–23 | Somalia 171,227 (22,123 men, 23,356 women, 125,748 children); Somaliland 7,642; ethnic Somalis in Djibouti 3,760, Ethiopia 8,917 and Kenya 5,649 ([Somali Christian Census 2023, pp. 54–56](https://www.somalibiblesociety.org/download/census-of-somali-christians-2023.pdf)) | The two 2023 figures are far apart: about 1,000 from the US State Department and 171,227 from the Somali Bible Society, a Christian organisation that ran its own count from August 2022 to October 2023. About three in four of the people it counted are children, counted through a Christian parent ([Somali Christian Census 2023](https://www.somalibiblesociety.org/download/census-of-somali-christians-2023.pdf)). The State Department adds that some Somali Bantu in the south keep traditional beliefs alongside Islam. See [Christians and missions in Somalia](/en/society/christians-and-missions-in-somalia/). ## Religious learning | Measure | Figure | Source | |---|---|---| | Qur'an schools | about 50,000 | Ministry of Education estimate ([UN Peacebuilding Fund](https://mptf.undp.org/sites/default/files/documents/2026-04/building_peace_through_religious_education_gw.pdf)) | | Children in Qur'an schools | over 4 million | same | | Schools in the 2024 ministry and UNICEF study | over 2,000 schools, over 150,000 children, five states | same | | Usual starting age | 3 or 4 | same | See [Qur'an schools and religious learning](/en/society/quran-schools-and-religious-learning/). ## Pilgrimage The federal government supported **9,043 Hajj pilgrims** in 2023 ([US State Department, 2023](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)). ## Sufi farming villages (jamaaco) In the 1950s there were more than 90 Sufi farming villages in the south, with about 35,000 members, mostly in [Bakool](/en/regions/bakool/), [Gedo](/en/regions/gedo/), Bay and along the [Shabelle](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/) ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). See [the Sufi orders](/en/society/sufi-orders-in-somalia/). ## Places of worship for other faiths There are no public places of worship for non-Muslims in Somalia except inside the Mogadishu international airport compound. The only Catholic church in [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/) is closed ([US State Department, 2023](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)). ## Read further - [Why almost every Somali is Muslim](/en/society/why-somalis-are-almost-all-muslim/) - [Islam in Somalia](/en/society/islam-in-somalia/) --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.